Congress must take action to diminish access to guns

Once again the censors strike! Compare the link to The Palm Beach Post and the original letter below!

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/02/16/a23a_lettersfile0216.html


Dear Editor:
Re “ Get the killer guns…” (Editorial, February 4). You write,"There’s profound disagreement about whether to enact new gun laws,” in reference to possible legislative action to regulate assault weapons that are usually cited as the cause of multiple deaths such as drive-by shootings in Florida.

The gun debate needs to be fought at both the state and national levels. Your editorial correctly states that the debate over gun control has long since been “hijacked” by the National Rifle Association, and that Congress needs to take immediate action to dramatically reduce access to guns in the U.S., especially among criminals.

In Florida the debate over the Second Amendment right to bear arms became nearly a lost cause twenty years ago when guns and gun licenses proliferated when citizens were given the right to carry concealed weapons. A recent editorial in The New York Times, “A Day Without Guns” (January 30), points out that licenses to carry guns in Florida skyrocketed from 25,000 to 410,000 during that twenty-year period. To add insult to lethal injury, a majority of legislators in Tallahassee saw fit to enact a law that allows for guns to be used for self-defense through deadly force “if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary.”

The result of the combination of illegal and legal arms flooding the streets of Florida, along with the free ride that Congress and the state have given to the NRA, has led to documented instances of felons being granted the right to carry concealed weapons. Acts of violence have been committed on the thinnest of pretexts by those legally carrying weapons, while street violence continues to soar.

The intent of the framers of the Constitution through the Second Amendment was to have a militia armed to protect against the meddling of foreign powers. Even if hunting is taken into account as a reasonable exception to gun control, what possible defense can a reasonable person offer when kids are killed on the streets by stray automatic rifle fire; police have to deal with guns being brandished during routine traffic stops, and the rest of us have to consider that even a minor disagreement in Florida can lead to gun violence that may be upheld by the courts?
Sincerely,
Howard Lisnoff